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Yesterday suspiciously perky cooking celebrity Rachael Ray, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn and other government officials held a press event at P.S. 89/I.S. 289 in Tribeca to preview a new menu that Ray created for NYC public schools. On Thursday, 600,000 students, from kindergartners to 12th graders, will have the option to sample the menu Ray developed: whole-wheat flatbread with roasted chicken, a ratatouille-style stew with beans, and corn salad on top. (Plus a side of broccoli.) But yesterday there was also a side of cockroach!
The roach was spotted racing across a countertop just feet from where Ray was holding forth about healthy food; minutes later children would dig into her special "sizzling soft tacos." Yum-o no! One of Ray's flacks quickly swatted the roach away, and Ray tells the Daily News, "I did not see that. It's unfortunate if there was [a bug]. I think that these schools strive to be the best across the board; I'm sure that includes cleanliness." When asked about the roach, Gillibrand said, "You have to talk to the Department of Ed about that."
But how was the food? 11-year-old Coby Levinson declared, "It just doesn't taste like the normal cafeteria food. It tastes better." The Times was a bit more critical, reporting that "the plating is a bit confusing: It’s supposed to be a 'taco,' but the boned chicken means that you can’t actually bite into it like a taco. Instead, the chicken and other ingredients just sit on the flatbread." Still, the Times found it ultimately "surprisingly good."
Ray assembled the recipe using items already on the public school ingredients list, and school cafeterias are free to use it as they please. Senator Gillibrand is pushing to improve school nutrition by updating the Child Nutrition Act; her proposals include a ban on trans fats in cafeteria kitchens across the country, an increase to the federal reimbursement rate of food by 70 cents per meal, and more federal oversight of school cafeterias in general. Uncle Sam is coming for you, roaches!
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When asked about the roach, Gillibrand said, "You have to talk to the Department of Ed about that."
Actually, you're our senator, genius. Why don't you do something about it?
why do you need rachel ray to serve wraps, or some Tacos?
ratatouille-style stew is a fancy way of saying chili or bean soup with corn on top?
im sure a nutritionist not a former candy salesperson at macy's would make a better decision about whats healthy for lunch.
was bloomberg there drooling over her?
why is this news? because a real live roach ruined a perfectly fake PR moment?
and snapple is a healthy choice after all they say its from the best stuff on earth, no its now the best stuff just got better!
how much did they pay her for this menu?
OMG, I just saw a fat mouse in the cafeteria! Wait, never mind. It was just Rachael Ray. I heard she's headed for Junior's next.
i ♥ rachel ray
...and cue the Raytards.
When asked about the bug, said "Are you effing kidding me? Do you have any idea how many beatles are alive on the planet Earth? You know that like, they are all over the place, right? Are you kidding me about this crap? It is a freaking bug, not the Angel of Death. Go take a chill pill."
obesity and malnutrition in america, and specifically among children in poorer parts of the city, have a lot of causes. There's the lack of access to good produce; parents may not know how to cook very well; or, they may simply have a job or commute that doesn't allow them to be home to cook a real dinner.
putting aside the cynicism i have often have about RayRay, i think this is a pretty classy move on her part. Putting together a good menu using pre-existing cafeteria ingredients that will get kinds to eat their vegetables, and more importantly, might inspire kids to want to cook food themselves, is good all around. PR stunt or not, a big time celebrity chef using their particular set of skills to help out public school kids is fine by me.
ray, that roach was a teachable moment on hunter-gatherer protein. for shame.
right and some overpaid ny yankee coming to an elementary to say reading books is cool even if its a PR stunt.
because if some kids read a book then its served its cool purpose.
what youre teaching kids is that they should worship psuedo celebrities, a real edumakashun should include rejection of commercial bombardment and a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to being used as props for someone else's agenda.
what next? the skanks from Rock of Love teaching how to use condoms posing with fifth graders holding cucumbers?
i think its time for you to switch to heroin.
"Take a chill pill" is right! Sheesh, celebrity or not, school cafeteria food is crap and at least someone is calling attention to it. Good lord, there are much bigger things to get your panties in a knot about.
i came from the KETCHUP is A VEGETABLE era of school lunch, so i point my squinty doubtful eyes on anything and everything. if it was a problem in 1985, it must have been a problem in 1965 and so on and so forth, so i dont think that a rachel ray pr stunt is going to change anything, lets check back in 2019 and well have another hack chef and emperor for life bloomberg's dept of babysitting your kids doing the same old same old except the chef will be a breakdancing robot.
hey gillebrand, way to deflect the obvious roach, and pass it over to the board of ed. how about doing something about the roaches to ensure the health/safety/nutrition in Child Nutrition Act update?
aside from the pr for rachel ray, what a great start to improve cafeteria food for all public school kids! how fantastic would it be if other chefs follow suit? super fantastic.
wish i had something like this when i was a kid.
Great for Rachael. She took a traditional school cafeteria menu and 'jazzed' it up to stuff kids actually like. This wasn't for PR, please. It's a great way to promote nutrition and creativity at a young age, versus letting kids eat crap and grow up to be ticking time bombs of obesity.
Meanwhile, at the back of the kitchen, another pan of half-cooked chicken nuggets comes out...
I luv Rachael Ray! Her healthy EVOO recipes are just so Yummo!